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Thursday, January 30, 2014

Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

Summary

Goodreads: In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl,
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan,
but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She
and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series
when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother
leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums,
writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for
every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.Now
that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to
be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort
zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around
boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end
of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk
about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s
loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the
question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her
hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want
to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013

Thoughts

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod

I was so excited about this book that I read 20 pages of it waiting in line at the library. My hands were literally tingling with excitement about reading the book! And now, 2 1/2 hours later, I've finished it. There are SO MANY OTHER THINGS I should be doing right now (read: I have auditions for the next month), but I just couldn't stop myself! I shouldn't have read those 20 pages...I might have been able to resist...

I love this book so much. I love the characters so much. It's everything I love about contemporary YA, and it added complete irrestistability with the addition of fanfiction. In many ways I'm like Cath, and in some I'm like Wren. Actually out of all the characters, I'm most likely to be Levi if you disregard the whole reading issue bit. And I think it's fantastic that I can relate in some way to every single one of her characters. Wren and Cath drama felt so real. Not melodramatic, and not
shallow, but what it feels like in the situation. And I love that they
aren't the same, and they aren't opposites, they're simply their own
people. The character development in this is just so amazing (even if I
feel like Wren more reverted to original self). And I love Reagan/Levi's friendship with Cath in the beginning. I laughed so hard at some of the parts.

Rainbow Rowell read fanfiction to research beforehand, and that makes me love her. I've talked a little bit about my involvement in fanfiction, and how much I absolutely love it. There's something amazing about reinterpreting someone's work, to reshape how we view certain characters, setting, and relationships. I think I love fanfiction so much because since childhood I have loved fairy tale retellings easily as much as I love the original story. But I digress.

I did have a few quibbles with the book - mostly about Wren. It feels like she didn't go through character development so much as she was suddenly very different people. And honestly I really disliked her for the better part of this book. I think if we'd seen a little bit of what their relationship before college was like maybe I wouldn't have felt so confused by her sudden personality changes? But honestly in the grand scheme of things, that still wouldn't be enough to lower my rating below 5 stars. Everything in this book was so outstanding it more than makes up for it!

Thanks! I'm actually not sure if I'm going to keep it or not since my original goal was to find something calmer and well...I failed...

Yeah I've not seen anyone (anyone I respect anyway) who disliked her books. That's also why I picked this one! I figured if I was going to give her books a go, this is the one I'm most likely to love. But after reading this, she's on my automatic approved authors list now!

I basically squealed when i saw you had this review on the blog!! I loved Fangirl sososososo much and I am glad you did too!

Also, I totally agree about Reagan and Cath's friendship being awesome. You just have to laugh at their interactions :)

Oh, and it is super cool that you knew a lot about Fan-fiction going in! I admittedly know very little about fanfic and I can see how having knowledge about it makes the book that more magical and amazing!

I was so afraid I wouldn't! I mean it didn't sound like I wouldn't like, it sounded like everything I've ever dreamed of in a book, but I don't have a great track record with books that have a lot of hype. (I think my brain is contrary and hates me. Everyone likes that? NO. You don't get to like it! Effing hipster brain.)

Yeah, I'd heard some other people didn't really get the fanfic aspect of the book, so I think being involved in the fanfic world really helped. It was pretty seamless moving from the other part of the book to the fanfic for me haha. I actually would totally read that story too!